Elevate Your Channel Ranking with These 11 SEO Secrets

Improve Your YouTube Video Performance with Wondershare Filmora

An easy and powerful video editor

Numerous video and audio effects to choose from

Detailed tutorials provided by the official channel

Try It Free Try It Free

More than 85% of businesses use YouTube videos as a marketing tool. YouTube is the second most visited website on the internet, with users uploading over 500 hours of video content every minute. Because video SEO is constantly evolving, you need to stay current on optimization best practices to rank higher on search results.

Luckily, this article offers YouTube SEO tips to help you create a solid strategy that will help you rank your videos.

In this article

How Does YouTube SEO Work?

11 Useful YouTube SEO Tips to Help Boost Your Video Ranking

How Does YouTube SEO Work?

YouTube SEO is an excellent way to ensure your videos get more views. The main goal of YouTube SEO is to rank high for specific keywords in search engines. As such, it is crucial to know how YouTube SEO works if you want to boost the ranking of your videos.

Whether you are a blogger, market researcher, or video marketer, you need YouTube SEO to generate traffic to your videos. YouTube SEO involves optimizing your videos, channel, descriptions, metadata, and playlists. You can optimize videos for search within and outside YouTube.

Because search engine bots can’t watch YouTube videos, they depend on accompanying text data when indexing them. So you must also know how to harness the power of text in your video, which can positively impact SEO, viewership, engagement, and user experience.

Watch Video: YouTube SEO Tips 2022: Boost Your Video Ranking

11 Useful YouTube SEO Tips to Help Boost Your Video Ranking

Want to drive more traffic and increase your video views? Here are eleven YouTube SEO tips that will help you to boost your video ranking.

1. Conduct Keyword Research First

When it comes to YouTube SEO, keywords are crucial. YouTube uses these keywords to determine the subject of your video, index the content, and then associate it with what users are searching for. As such, you must add them to certain fields, including description, tags, and title, when you are uploading the video file. YouTube will then get this information and use it to rank your video.

For this reason, you have to know the keywords that best identify your videos and have the potential to attract viewers to your channel.

2. Use a Good Video Title

The title of your video is the first thing other people see, and it’s what decides whether or not they watch it. Given how important it is, you’ll want to make sure that your title accurately reflects the content of your video and includes all relevant keywords.

3. Link Your Videos Directly to Your Website

Each time you publish a new video, make sure you embed it on your website or blog. Not only will this encourage viewers to stay on your website instead of leaving immediately, but it will also make it easier for search engines crawlers to index your website.

4. Add Tags To The Video Description

When you upload your video, remember to add tags to the “About” section of the page. You can do this by adding some relevant keywords with each tag like you would with blog posts.

When planning your strategy for YouTube keywords, you need to find 10-20 single keyword tags you want to rank for; keep in mind that this platform limits the number of tags users can include in a video. So you should first add the most relevant keyword phrases then include specific multi-word tags that will easily rank on top of search results.

5. Edit The Filename

The filename of your video, or the “video URL,” can also affect its rankings. Including keywords in this section will help the crawlers index your video faster, which will increase its chances of ranking higher.

6. Add Subtitles and Closed Captions

Adding subtitles and closed captions to your videos is also a good idea, especially if you want the video’s ranking and viewership to improve. Subtitles make it easier for new viewers to understand your videos, especially if your audience comes from different linguistic backgrounds.

7. Select Video Category

When uploading a video, be sure to select the most appropriate category for it. Essentially, this helps with SEO optimization because choosing the right category means that YouTube’s algorithm will place your video in the proper search results. In turn, viewers will easily find your video and watch it.

8. Use a Compelling Thumbnail

Make sure you use the right YouTube video thumbnail image , as this makes a big difference in the click-through rate. You might want to use high-quality, high-contrast images with a 16:9 aspect ratio. YouTube will choose which frame it will display as the video thumbnail. The platform will present three screenshots that you can choose from; however, you can upload your image or select a shot of another moment in the video.

Remember that YouTube overlays the duration of the video in the corner of your thumbnail. So make sure it does not obstruct any relevant details in your thumbnail. Google also uses image recognition to filter out specific imagery, including the YouTube logo.

Ideally, you need an image that is a perfect visual representation of the keywords you are targeting. In turn, this is going to take your presence in relevant search results even further.

9. Make High-Quality Longer

Videos that are less than 2 minutes long often rank low. The duration of most of the videos in the first five positions is usually 11 minutes 44 seconds. Therefore, you need to invest in longer videos that are around 10 minutes long. These videos meet the expectations of many users seeking complete and in-depth content. Additionally, you should create high-quality videos to ensure your viewers will keep watching.

Create High-Quality YouTube Video with Filmora

Wondershare’s Filmora program allows you to edit your video content with trim, transitions, and overlays. You can also add cool effects to your videos to make them more captivating. It also includes advanced editing features like Key Framing, Motion Tracking and more. Learn about Filmora now!

Improve Your YouTube Video Performance with Wondershare Filmora

An easy and powerful video editor

Numerous video and audio effects to choose from

Detailed tutorials provided by the official channel

Try It Free Try It Free

10. Focus on User Engagement

Encourage your audience to like, comment, and share your videos. You should also respond to messages and comments. These engagement metrics strongly correlate with higher rankings.

Google cares about how people respond to your content because this is what keeps people on their platform.

11. Add End Screens and YouTube Cards

YouTube cards encourage viewers to take action during your video. The cards show up in the top right corner of your videos; users can click on and explore more. Using YouTube cards is an excellent way to boost your ranking. YouTube allows you to add a maximum of five cards to each video.

Conclusion

Using these YouTube SEO tips will ensure that your videos rank on top search results. That means more people will watch your videos and subscribe to your channel. Let’s start editing now!

Try It Free Try It Free

More than 85% of businesses use YouTube videos as a marketing tool. YouTube is the second most visited website on the internet, with users uploading over 500 hours of video content every minute. Because video SEO is constantly evolving, you need to stay current on optimization best practices to rank higher on search results.

Luckily, this article offers YouTube SEO tips to help you create a solid strategy that will help you rank your videos.

In this article

How Does YouTube SEO Work?

11 Useful YouTube SEO Tips to Help Boost Your Video Ranking

How Does YouTube SEO Work?

YouTube SEO is an excellent way to ensure your videos get more views. The main goal of YouTube SEO is to rank high for specific keywords in search engines. As such, it is crucial to know how YouTube SEO works if you want to boost the ranking of your videos.

Whether you are a blogger, market researcher, or video marketer, you need YouTube SEO to generate traffic to your videos. YouTube SEO involves optimizing your videos, channel, descriptions, metadata, and playlists. You can optimize videos for search within and outside YouTube.

Because search engine bots can’t watch YouTube videos, they depend on accompanying text data when indexing them. So you must also know how to harness the power of text in your video, which can positively impact SEO, viewership, engagement, and user experience.

Watch Video: YouTube SEO Tips 2022: Boost Your Video Ranking

11 Useful YouTube SEO Tips to Help Boost Your Video Ranking

Want to drive more traffic and increase your video views? Here are eleven YouTube SEO tips that will help you to boost your video ranking.

1. Conduct Keyword Research First

When it comes to YouTube SEO, keywords are crucial. YouTube uses these keywords to determine the subject of your video, index the content, and then associate it with what users are searching for. As such, you must add them to certain fields, including description, tags, and title, when you are uploading the video file. YouTube will then get this information and use it to rank your video.

For this reason, you have to know the keywords that best identify your videos and have the potential to attract viewers to your channel.

2. Use a Good Video Title

The title of your video is the first thing other people see, and it’s what decides whether or not they watch it. Given how important it is, you’ll want to make sure that your title accurately reflects the content of your video and includes all relevant keywords.

3. Link Your Videos Directly to Your Website

Each time you publish a new video, make sure you embed it on your website or blog. Not only will this encourage viewers to stay on your website instead of leaving immediately, but it will also make it easier for search engines crawlers to index your website.

4. Add Tags To The Video Description

When you upload your video, remember to add tags to the “About” section of the page. You can do this by adding some relevant keywords with each tag like you would with blog posts.

When planning your strategy for YouTube keywords, you need to find 10-20 single keyword tags you want to rank for; keep in mind that this platform limits the number of tags users can include in a video. So you should first add the most relevant keyword phrases then include specific multi-word tags that will easily rank on top of search results.

5. Edit The Filename

The filename of your video, or the “video URL,” can also affect its rankings. Including keywords in this section will help the crawlers index your video faster, which will increase its chances of ranking higher.

6. Add Subtitles and Closed Captions

Adding subtitles and closed captions to your videos is also a good idea, especially if you want the video’s ranking and viewership to improve. Subtitles make it easier for new viewers to understand your videos, especially if your audience comes from different linguistic backgrounds.

7. Select Video Category

When uploading a video, be sure to select the most appropriate category for it. Essentially, this helps with SEO optimization because choosing the right category means that YouTube’s algorithm will place your video in the proper search results. In turn, viewers will easily find your video and watch it.

8. Use a Compelling Thumbnail

Make sure you use the right YouTube video thumbnail image , as this makes a big difference in the click-through rate. You might want to use high-quality, high-contrast images with a 16:9 aspect ratio. YouTube will choose which frame it will display as the video thumbnail. The platform will present three screenshots that you can choose from; however, you can upload your image or select a shot of another moment in the video.

Remember that YouTube overlays the duration of the video in the corner of your thumbnail. So make sure it does not obstruct any relevant details in your thumbnail. Google also uses image recognition to filter out specific imagery, including the YouTube logo.

Ideally, you need an image that is a perfect visual representation of the keywords you are targeting. In turn, this is going to take your presence in relevant search results even further.

9. Make High-Quality Longer

Videos that are less than 2 minutes long often rank low. The duration of most of the videos in the first five positions is usually 11 minutes 44 seconds. Therefore, you need to invest in longer videos that are around 10 minutes long. These videos meet the expectations of many users seeking complete and in-depth content. Additionally, you should create high-quality videos to ensure your viewers will keep watching.

Create High-Quality YouTube Video with Filmora

Wondershare’s Filmora program allows you to edit your video content with trim, transitions, and overlays. You can also add cool effects to your videos to make them more captivating. It also includes advanced editing features like Key Framing, Motion Tracking and more. Learn about Filmora now!

Improve Your YouTube Video Performance with Wondershare Filmora

An easy and powerful video editor

Numerous video and audio effects to choose from

Detailed tutorials provided by the official channel

Try It Free Try It Free

10. Focus on User Engagement

Encourage your audience to like, comment, and share your videos. You should also respond to messages and comments. These engagement metrics strongly correlate with higher rankings.

Google cares about how people respond to your content because this is what keeps people on their platform.

11. Add End Screens and YouTube Cards

YouTube cards encourage viewers to take action during your video. The cards show up in the top right corner of your videos; users can click on and explore more. Using YouTube cards is an excellent way to boost your ranking. YouTube allows you to add a maximum of five cards to each video.

Conclusion

Using these YouTube SEO tips will ensure that your videos rank on top search results. That means more people will watch your videos and subscribe to your channel. Let’s start editing now!

Try It Free Try It Free

More than 85% of businesses use YouTube videos as a marketing tool. YouTube is the second most visited website on the internet, with users uploading over 500 hours of video content every minute. Because video SEO is constantly evolving, you need to stay current on optimization best practices to rank higher on search results.

Luckily, this article offers YouTube SEO tips to help you create a solid strategy that will help you rank your videos.

In this article

How Does YouTube SEO Work?

11 Useful YouTube SEO Tips to Help Boost Your Video Ranking

How Does YouTube SEO Work?

YouTube SEO is an excellent way to ensure your videos get more views. The main goal of YouTube SEO is to rank high for specific keywords in search engines. As such, it is crucial to know how YouTube SEO works if you want to boost the ranking of your videos.

Whether you are a blogger, market researcher, or video marketer, you need YouTube SEO to generate traffic to your videos. YouTube SEO involves optimizing your videos, channel, descriptions, metadata, and playlists. You can optimize videos for search within and outside YouTube.

Because search engine bots can’t watch YouTube videos, they depend on accompanying text data when indexing them. So you must also know how to harness the power of text in your video, which can positively impact SEO, viewership, engagement, and user experience.

Watch Video: YouTube SEO Tips 2022: Boost Your Video Ranking

11 Useful YouTube SEO Tips to Help Boost Your Video Ranking

Want to drive more traffic and increase your video views? Here are eleven YouTube SEO tips that will help you to boost your video ranking.

1. Conduct Keyword Research First

When it comes to YouTube SEO, keywords are crucial. YouTube uses these keywords to determine the subject of your video, index the content, and then associate it with what users are searching for. As such, you must add them to certain fields, including description, tags, and title, when you are uploading the video file. YouTube will then get this information and use it to rank your video.

For this reason, you have to know the keywords that best identify your videos and have the potential to attract viewers to your channel.

2. Use a Good Video Title

The title of your video is the first thing other people see, and it’s what decides whether or not they watch it. Given how important it is, you’ll want to make sure that your title accurately reflects the content of your video and includes all relevant keywords.

3. Link Your Videos Directly to Your Website

Each time you publish a new video, make sure you embed it on your website or blog. Not only will this encourage viewers to stay on your website instead of leaving immediately, but it will also make it easier for search engines crawlers to index your website.

4. Add Tags To The Video Description

When you upload your video, remember to add tags to the “About” section of the page. You can do this by adding some relevant keywords with each tag like you would with blog posts.

When planning your strategy for YouTube keywords, you need to find 10-20 single keyword tags you want to rank for; keep in mind that this platform limits the number of tags users can include in a video. So you should first add the most relevant keyword phrases then include specific multi-word tags that will easily rank on top of search results.

5. Edit The Filename

The filename of your video, or the “video URL,” can also affect its rankings. Including keywords in this section will help the crawlers index your video faster, which will increase its chances of ranking higher.

6. Add Subtitles and Closed Captions

Adding subtitles and closed captions to your videos is also a good idea, especially if you want the video’s ranking and viewership to improve. Subtitles make it easier for new viewers to understand your videos, especially if your audience comes from different linguistic backgrounds.

7. Select Video Category

When uploading a video, be sure to select the most appropriate category for it. Essentially, this helps with SEO optimization because choosing the right category means that YouTube’s algorithm will place your video in the proper search results. In turn, viewers will easily find your video and watch it.

8. Use a Compelling Thumbnail

Make sure you use the right YouTube video thumbnail image , as this makes a big difference in the click-through rate. You might want to use high-quality, high-contrast images with a 16:9 aspect ratio. YouTube will choose which frame it will display as the video thumbnail. The platform will present three screenshots that you can choose from; however, you can upload your image or select a shot of another moment in the video.

Remember that YouTube overlays the duration of the video in the corner of your thumbnail. So make sure it does not obstruct any relevant details in your thumbnail. Google also uses image recognition to filter out specific imagery, including the YouTube logo.

Ideally, you need an image that is a perfect visual representation of the keywords you are targeting. In turn, this is going to take your presence in relevant search results even further.

9. Make High-Quality Longer

Videos that are less than 2 minutes long often rank low. The duration of most of the videos in the first five positions is usually 11 minutes 44 seconds. Therefore, you need to invest in longer videos that are around 10 minutes long. These videos meet the expectations of many users seeking complete and in-depth content. Additionally, you should create high-quality videos to ensure your viewers will keep watching.

Create High-Quality YouTube Video with Filmora

Wondershare’s Filmora program allows you to edit your video content with trim, transitions, and overlays. You can also add cool effects to your videos to make them more captivating. It also includes advanced editing features like Key Framing, Motion Tracking and more. Learn about Filmora now!

Improve Your YouTube Video Performance with Wondershare Filmora

An easy and powerful video editor

Numerous video and audio effects to choose from

Detailed tutorials provided by the official channel

Try It Free Try It Free

10. Focus on User Engagement

Encourage your audience to like, comment, and share your videos. You should also respond to messages and comments. These engagement metrics strongly correlate with higher rankings.

Google cares about how people respond to your content because this is what keeps people on their platform.

11. Add End Screens and YouTube Cards

YouTube cards encourage viewers to take action during your video. The cards show up in the top right corner of your videos; users can click on and explore more. Using YouTube cards is an excellent way to boost your ranking. YouTube allows you to add a maximum of five cards to each video.

Conclusion

Using these YouTube SEO tips will ensure that your videos rank on top search results. That means more people will watch your videos and subscribe to your channel. Let’s start editing now!

Try It Free Try It Free

More than 85% of businesses use YouTube videos as a marketing tool. YouTube is the second most visited website on the internet, with users uploading over 500 hours of video content every minute. Because video SEO is constantly evolving, you need to stay current on optimization best practices to rank higher on search results.

Luckily, this article offers YouTube SEO tips to help you create a solid strategy that will help you rank your videos.

In this article

How Does YouTube SEO Work?

11 Useful YouTube SEO Tips to Help Boost Your Video Ranking

How Does YouTube SEO Work?

YouTube SEO is an excellent way to ensure your videos get more views. The main goal of YouTube SEO is to rank high for specific keywords in search engines. As such, it is crucial to know how YouTube SEO works if you want to boost the ranking of your videos.

Whether you are a blogger, market researcher, or video marketer, you need YouTube SEO to generate traffic to your videos. YouTube SEO involves optimizing your videos, channel, descriptions, metadata, and playlists. You can optimize videos for search within and outside YouTube.

Because search engine bots can’t watch YouTube videos, they depend on accompanying text data when indexing them. So you must also know how to harness the power of text in your video, which can positively impact SEO, viewership, engagement, and user experience.

Watch Video: YouTube SEO Tips 2022: Boost Your Video Ranking

11 Useful YouTube SEO Tips to Help Boost Your Video Ranking

Want to drive more traffic and increase your video views? Here are eleven YouTube SEO tips that will help you to boost your video ranking.

1. Conduct Keyword Research First

When it comes to YouTube SEO, keywords are crucial. YouTube uses these keywords to determine the subject of your video, index the content, and then associate it with what users are searching for. As such, you must add them to certain fields, including description, tags, and title, when you are uploading the video file. YouTube will then get this information and use it to rank your video.

For this reason, you have to know the keywords that best identify your videos and have the potential to attract viewers to your channel.

2. Use a Good Video Title

The title of your video is the first thing other people see, and it’s what decides whether or not they watch it. Given how important it is, you’ll want to make sure that your title accurately reflects the content of your video and includes all relevant keywords.

3. Link Your Videos Directly to Your Website

Each time you publish a new video, make sure you embed it on your website or blog. Not only will this encourage viewers to stay on your website instead of leaving immediately, but it will also make it easier for search engines crawlers to index your website.

4. Add Tags To The Video Description

When you upload your video, remember to add tags to the “About” section of the page. You can do this by adding some relevant keywords with each tag like you would with blog posts.

When planning your strategy for YouTube keywords, you need to find 10-20 single keyword tags you want to rank for; keep in mind that this platform limits the number of tags users can include in a video. So you should first add the most relevant keyword phrases then include specific multi-word tags that will easily rank on top of search results.

5. Edit The Filename

The filename of your video, or the “video URL,” can also affect its rankings. Including keywords in this section will help the crawlers index your video faster, which will increase its chances of ranking higher.

6. Add Subtitles and Closed Captions

Adding subtitles and closed captions to your videos is also a good idea, especially if you want the video’s ranking and viewership to improve. Subtitles make it easier for new viewers to understand your videos, especially if your audience comes from different linguistic backgrounds.

7. Select Video Category

When uploading a video, be sure to select the most appropriate category for it. Essentially, this helps with SEO optimization because choosing the right category means that YouTube’s algorithm will place your video in the proper search results. In turn, viewers will easily find your video and watch it.

8. Use a Compelling Thumbnail

Make sure you use the right YouTube video thumbnail image , as this makes a big difference in the click-through rate. You might want to use high-quality, high-contrast images with a 16:9 aspect ratio. YouTube will choose which frame it will display as the video thumbnail. The platform will present three screenshots that you can choose from; however, you can upload your image or select a shot of another moment in the video.

Remember that YouTube overlays the duration of the video in the corner of your thumbnail. So make sure it does not obstruct any relevant details in your thumbnail. Google also uses image recognition to filter out specific imagery, including the YouTube logo.

Ideally, you need an image that is a perfect visual representation of the keywords you are targeting. In turn, this is going to take your presence in relevant search results even further.

9. Make High-Quality Longer

Videos that are less than 2 minutes long often rank low. The duration of most of the videos in the first five positions is usually 11 minutes 44 seconds. Therefore, you need to invest in longer videos that are around 10 minutes long. These videos meet the expectations of many users seeking complete and in-depth content. Additionally, you should create high-quality videos to ensure your viewers will keep watching.

Create High-Quality YouTube Video with Filmora

Wondershare’s Filmora program allows you to edit your video content with trim, transitions, and overlays. You can also add cool effects to your videos to make them more captivating. It also includes advanced editing features like Key Framing, Motion Tracking and more. Learn about Filmora now!

Improve Your YouTube Video Performance with Wondershare Filmora

An easy and powerful video editor

Numerous video and audio effects to choose from

Detailed tutorials provided by the official channel

Try It Free Try It Free

10. Focus on User Engagement

Encourage your audience to like, comment, and share your videos. You should also respond to messages and comments. These engagement metrics strongly correlate with higher rankings.

Google cares about how people respond to your content because this is what keeps people on their platform.

11. Add End Screens and YouTube Cards

YouTube cards encourage viewers to take action during your video. The cards show up in the top right corner of your videos; users can click on and explore more. Using YouTube cards is an excellent way to boost your ranking. YouTube allows you to add a maximum of five cards to each video.

Conclusion

Using these YouTube SEO tips will ensure that your videos rank on top search results. That means more people will watch your videos and subscribe to your channel. Let’s start editing now!

Quick and Accurate Audio-to-Text Conversion on YouTube – Free Methods

How to Transcribe a YouTube Video for FREE

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.

• Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
• Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
• Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
• Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs

Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]

Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.

Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:

Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube

As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:

Step 1 Upload a Video

Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.

Step 2 Select Transcription Language

On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.

Step 3 Publish the Video

Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.

Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.

After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:

1. Get to the Subtitles Window

While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.

1. Get to Classic Studio

In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.

1. Download Transcription File

Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.

Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching

In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:

Step 1: Play the Video

Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.

Step 2: Enable Transcription

Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.

Step 3: Manage Timestamps

Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.

Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe

Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.

Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:

Step 1: Add YouTube Video

Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.

Step 2: Transcribe the Video

Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.

Step 3: Download the Transcription File

Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.

Pros

• Kapwing is free to use
• The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
• Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file

Cons

• The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background

You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:

Step 1: Add YouTube Video

Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.

Step 2: Transcribe the Video

Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.

Step 3: Download the Transcription File

Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.

Pros

• Kapwing is free to use
• The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
• Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file

Cons

• The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background

Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos

You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:

• Search Engine Optimization

When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.

• Accent

If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.

• Repurposing on Blogs

If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.

YouTube Video Transcription FAQs

1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text

Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.

That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:

• Right-click the SRT file
• Go to Rename
• Replace srt with txt and press Enter
• Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT

After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.

2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube

If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:

• Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
• Expand the Languages column of the target video
• Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
• Click Edit on Classic Studio
• On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner

• Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
• Click Upload a file
  • Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
  • Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done

Conclusion

If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.

• Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
• Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
• Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
• Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs

Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]

Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.

Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:

Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube

As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:

Step 1 Upload a Video

Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.

Step 2 Select Transcription Language

On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.

Step 3 Publish the Video

Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.

Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.

After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:

1. Get to the Subtitles Window

While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.

1. Get to Classic Studio

In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.

1. Download Transcription File

Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.

Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching

In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:

Step 1: Play the Video

Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.

Step 2: Enable Transcription

Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.

Step 3: Manage Timestamps

Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.

Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe

Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.

Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:

Step 1: Add YouTube Video

Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.

Step 2: Transcribe the Video

Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.

Step 3: Download the Transcription File

Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.

Pros

• Kapwing is free to use
• The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
• Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file

Cons

• The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background

You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:

Step 1: Add YouTube Video

Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.

Step 2: Transcribe the Video

Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.

Step 3: Download the Transcription File

Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.

Pros

• Kapwing is free to use
• The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
• Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file

Cons

• The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background

Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos

You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:

• Search Engine Optimization

When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.

• Accent

If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.

• Repurposing on Blogs

If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.

YouTube Video Transcription FAQs

1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text

Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.

That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:

• Right-click the SRT file
• Go to Rename
• Replace srt with txt and press Enter
• Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT

After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.

2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube

If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:

• Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
• Expand the Languages column of the target video
• Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
• Click Edit on Classic Studio
• On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner

• Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
• Click Upload a file
  • Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
  • Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done

Conclusion

If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.

• Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
• Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
• Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
• Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs

Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]

Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.

Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:

Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube

As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:

Step 1 Upload a Video

Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.

Step 2 Select Transcription Language

On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.

Step 3 Publish the Video

Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.

Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.

After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:

1. Get to the Subtitles Window

While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.

1. Get to Classic Studio

In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.

1. Download Transcription File

Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.

Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching

In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:

Step 1: Play the Video

Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.

Step 2: Enable Transcription

Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.

Step 3: Manage Timestamps

Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.

Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe

Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.

Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:

Step 1: Add YouTube Video

Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.

Step 2: Transcribe the Video

Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.

Step 3: Download the Transcription File

Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.

Pros

• Kapwing is free to use
• The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
• Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file

Cons

• The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background

You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:

Step 1: Add YouTube Video

Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.

Step 2: Transcribe the Video

Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.

Step 3: Download the Transcription File

Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.

Pros

• Kapwing is free to use
• The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
• Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file

Cons

• The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background

Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos

You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:

• Search Engine Optimization

When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.

• Accent

If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.

• Repurposing on Blogs

If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.

YouTube Video Transcription FAQs

1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text

Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.

That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:

• Right-click the SRT file
• Go to Rename
• Replace srt with txt and press Enter
• Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT

After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.

2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube

If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:

• Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
• Expand the Languages column of the target video
• Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
• Click Edit on Classic Studio
• On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner

• Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
• Click Upload a file
  • Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
  • Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done

Conclusion

If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.

• Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
• Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
• Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
• Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs

Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]

Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.

Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:

Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube

As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:

Step 1 Upload a Video

Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.

Step 2 Select Transcription Language

On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.

Step 3 Publish the Video

Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.

Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.

After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:

1. Get to the Subtitles Window

While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.

1. Get to Classic Studio

In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.

1. Download Transcription File

Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.

Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching

In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:

Step 1: Play the Video

Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.

Step 2: Enable Transcription

Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.

Step 3: Manage Timestamps

Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.

Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe

Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.

Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:

Step 1: Add YouTube Video

Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.

Step 2: Transcribe the Video

Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.

Step 3: Download the Transcription File

Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.

Pros

• Kapwing is free to use
• The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
• Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file

Cons

• The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background

You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:

Step 1: Add YouTube Video

Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.

Step 2: Transcribe the Video

Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.

Step 3: Download the Transcription File

Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.

Pros

• Kapwing is free to use
• The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
• Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file

Cons

• The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background

Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos

You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:

• Search Engine Optimization

When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.

• Accent

If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.

• Repurposing on Blogs

If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.

YouTube Video Transcription FAQs

1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text

Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.

That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:

• Right-click the SRT file
• Go to Rename
• Replace srt with txt and press Enter
• Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT

After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.

2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube

If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:

• Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
• Expand the Languages column of the target video
• Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
• Click Edit on Classic Studio
• On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner

• Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
• Click Upload a file
  • Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
  • Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done

Conclusion

If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

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